Just shut up already.....
 

You know, just the other day, i was driving down I-30, and heard this lady get on, and go on this rant about how we as drivers just need to shut the country down and not drive for a solid 24 hours....this will get everyones attention, she said.

Okay, first off....you will NEVER get every driver to not drive for the day. Just wont happen. 2nd, if you really want to get peoples attention, you just need to either not drive for 2-3 days, or have drivers take part in clogging major city bypasses, and drive for 11 straight hours, side by side, etc....or both.

But we will never be able to ban together, if we cannot pay enough respect to another fellow driver to waive to them as we pass each other, or give the customary 'thank you' when you pass another driver, and s/he 'flashes' you over to let you know its clear.

If we cannot respect each other as professional drivers (regardless how much experience one might have, or who they drive for, or if they are an O/O or a company driver or not) and do something as little as holding a door open, and just being polite.....a 'strike' will never happen.....so shut up about it already.

+1

Remember last year when a few guys bob-tailed on the interstate at 35mph (in FL, methinks)? Remember what that accomplished, besides pissing off the motoring public and burning up a little fuel?

Why do we need the nations attention?

I am not sure what you want to accomplish, Kevin. If every truck in the country took a day off it would have little, if any, impact on our lives. I think that I have mentioned this before but if you want to shut the country down you don't need every driver to stay home. All you need do is stop the tankers. Without fuel everything stops. But you won't get a lot of attention if everyone stops for a day. It would take about a week to get everyone's attention. Again, I don't know what you hope to accomplish? And you may not like the attention you get.

You would demonstrate the need to nationalize the transportation industry, of course.

Anyone remember, oh, the AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS UNION?

And the Anti-Commie (Reagan) put end end to that nonsense pretty quick. Whaddya think a Pink-O like Barack Osama would do?

R

The government doesn't want the trucking industry to be as strong as it was prior to the strike which took place back around 1980. I don't remember the exact year. Since that time Teamster membership and influence has dropped dramatically. There is more influence from the ATA which represents less than 10% of the carriers who seem to have the strongest voice, and that doesn't necessarily make it good for the drivers or small carriers. The air traffic controllers were government employees. If the trucking industry actually stopped running there is little the government could do about it. I don't see that happening. This industry is too fragmented and there isn't a single voice. Besides, if an owner operator went on strike he would be striking against himself since he is in business. If you want to start a movement then you need very explicit reasons why people should follow you and have a plan on how to accomplish your goals.

Just one quick question, Kevin... How much a mile are you getting paid?

Before deregulation, my brother was making more than .35/mile. Look how long ago deregulation happened. Are you making more than that? If not, why not? If more, just how much more. The industry has insured that the average driver can not set enough aside to survive a strike that is long enough to be effective. You gotta pay the bills, and to do that, you gotta keep working. That's why you won't get enough drivers to join in and make it effective.

Looking at the increases in various costs since deregulation... Look at insurance. Look at food prices. Look at fuel costs. Look at your electric bill. How much has rent and property tax gone up since then? How much has realestate gone up since then? (A nice home would have sold for about $40,000 back then.) If the pay for the trucking industry had kept up with any one of them, you should be making more than $1/mile... Are you? If not, you can not afford to strike and try to pay your bills.

I think part of the problem is drivers aren't willing to do the heavy lifting themselves. Look at how quickly many drivers bulldoze through their carrier choice, or sign a lease "fleece" contract. Every single CR England driver falls into this category.

I think education is key. As more and more drivers get educated about how much they could potentially make, and how to get there, rates will steadily climb.

SO TRUE!! I bet there's a gvmt contigincy plan sitting in a file somewhere just for that to happen

I'm going out on a limb here , I don't think Kevin is pushing for a strike. Read his post again and you'll see he's kinda telling the wanna-be strikers to put up or shut up. I would perfer the later, he's is right as many others are too IT'S NOT GONNA HAPPEN! Don't like the way ATA, Feds, or whoever handle's things stop bitch*n and JOIN , if membership changed to 50% drivers then you would have some pull.
That's not goning to happen either why? APATHY you know let someone else do it, what can I do?

I think Kev needs to follow his own advice...............

Just shut up already....

:clap::clap::clap::clap::clap::clap:

i'm tired of all this bull crap......... i'm going on strike............

I am already on strike against the coffee companies. I havent had a cup of coffee in 37 years. They should be dropping to their knees pretty quick.

You are missing the point of my OP. I'm saying i'm fed up with all the talk about going on strike. And it will never happen because how can we ban together, unified, if we cant even waive to each other passing down the road, or a common 'thank you'.

Would i like to see some attention to how bad our profession isnt paid what it should? Sure. Do i get sick of hearing all the crying going on in truck stops about how someone wont take this load or that load because it dont pay more than $1/mi ??

Then some of you give ME crap, because i say i am content (for now) with getting .33cpm (when, yes i know, i could go elsewhere and make .10cpm+ more)

The point of my post is this comradery we all think we have, we dont, and if we dont have any, we could never sucessfully go on a strike.

Sure truckers could strike, they just need to have balls and they need to stick together !!!

UPS was beat when the drivers walked out in 1997, I remember Federal Express closing at noon because they could not take any more freight and we were forced to ship via the post office.

Drivers missed a major opportunity to strike already, they should have stopped work during Bush and Cheney record oil price fraud.

Actually, I know a few people that were hoping and praying that truck drivers would go out on a general, national strike when the oil prices peaked last year. As far as they are concerned, it's the truck drivers that would have the greatest impact in reversing the trend. I don't know what made the prices go back down again, but I know they are disappointed with us that we did not walk out.

Think it had something to do with the first 'bail out' Bush signed. It wasnt a day or two before prices dropped $2/gal, then in another week, was under $2/gal.

i've been saying for years, that we have never had anybody in the oval office that has actually been FOR the people, and BY the people. It is always some puppet. Last true president we had was Kennedy.

want a little insight into how our government works? click this....

The Obama Deception Full Length

I think everybody missed Kevins' point.

I think he wants the poster('s) whom are here advocating "STRIKE", to just shut up and go away....quietly maybe?? :whistle: :whistle: :whistle:

The trucking industry is like a big energy eating monster...

It can absorb anything and everything you throw at it and still come out on top.

:)

Right man, 8 years of Bush and Cheney oil fraud destroyed the industry, I guess you missed this fact.

http://www.classadrivers.com/forum/454145-post21.html

Right. All the problems with the trucking industry and the high fuel prices are the responsibility of Bush and Cheney. No one else was responsible. No one profited from high oil prices but Cheney and Bush? :roll: Perhaps you could cite some proof?

BINGO was his name-o. and not only just on here....industry wide...all those who get on the CB and cry 'strike'....

LOL, you need proof of Bush Cheney oil fraud, search on these terms.

Cut and paste them into Google.

Cheney Enron Ken Lay

Exxon record profits

Cheney Energy Task Force Fraud

Ken Lay Secret Meetings

Enron Bush Oil fraud

We can talk about oil fraud later....

I must know where you guys are getting all the different 'emoticons' ....

They don't appear for me in any of the posting modes

...are you guys special or something in order to get these gems ?

You see...They all have lawyers...like an entourage of them.....

its doubtful W or his buddy Cheney would be allowed to get caught in a fraud.

They have the best lawyers on the freakin planet


'Impunity' is the word for it....they are untouchable

Go into your user control panel (user CP) and change the posting interface around, you have 3 options there, look at the bottom and change to standard editor.

Cool...

Thanks :thumbsup:

So........Because you posted a statement on an internet forum, THAT statement is now a fact???

Bush and Cheney are far from the lead, when it comes to the oil industry and price gouging. Hell.......They are not even close to being "Ball Park" players!

Exxon.....before ExxonMobil, did not need to sell one drop of gasoline or diesel fuel in America, to be the most profitable Oil Company in the world.....pre-Exxon Valdez. They still don't today.

Automotive fuels and home heating are just the tip of the "Iceberg", when it comes to "Oil" profits.

Bush and Cheney.....they didn't even make it up the first escarpment of the iceberg.

If I'm not mistaken, there's far more money in petro-chemicals than in fuels.

The catch 22 to this topic is that to successfully strike, truck drivers need to organize. To organize means to form a union, and yet the majority of what I hear from drivers is how much they dislike unions. But what is a union? It is an employee organization to bargain for better working conditions (pay, hrs, etc). There is no mandate requiring unions to join one of the national organizations so frequently degraded by others, but that would require people to actually do something (make an effort, and participate), and we all know what will happen. It'll be a couple people who will make the effort, and the other lazy drivers will joke about how bad the union is.

So smile when you earn less than your parents did doing this job, and have nothing outside of work to show for always being away. You'll at least have the satisfaction of knowing you weren't part of one of those horrible unions. A union is what you the employees make it. If it "sucks" as people profess, well then I'd say it is a fairly accurate reflection of the employees themselves.

Maybe we should start a CAD union. Hell we already got bumper-stickers. :D

In true union fashion; If you don't join, Rev. will lite-up your rig.

Ridge Runner..."Maybe we should start a CAD union. Hell we already got bumper-stickers."

Send a blank signed check to me and I'll get you started. I'm almost afraid to ask on the bumper stickers. Are we talking the Booth Fan Club ones?

Solving the world's problems one forum at a time or more likely creating more problems.:)

Unions don't work.....literally. Union workers are among the most unproductive on this planet. They continue to want more money and benefits for less effort. Talk about lazy drivers?! Unions protect the unproductive while punishing the producers. And if you think that a union is an employee organization, you better think again. Unions are big business and have little to do with the members. Only a handful of those running the union make the big money. The members are merely sheep that are there for the unions to pick their pockets. It is unions and their unrealistic demands that has resulted in thousands of companies either shutting down or moving outside the U.S. It all sounds great...... Join the union and your wages will dramatically increase and you will get all these freebie's all paid for by the mean old company. If you have ever picked up at a steel plant or grocery warehouse that is union you have seen first hand how these people operate. Unions counter the independent spirit of this business that attracted so many over the years. And their retirement is likely to have the same end result as social security.

Besides, a major percentage of drivers are owner operators. We are in business. What are we supposed to do, strike against ourselves for higher wages or more benefits? There is a reason union membership has seen a steady decline over the years. People are seeing them for what they really are.

AVC you are dead-on, the strike should have happened in July August 2008. Problem is everyone thought all was well because the fuel surcharge was high. They didnt consider fuel was at the record high point. The strike will never make a difference and truckers will never unite, but we can do better at being polite and helping one another. There are a lot of good truckers on the road, but the few bad apples get the attention.

I'll remember your words of wisdom as I'm changing out of my sweat soaked coveralls at the end of each day at my "unproductive" union job.

Actually, working union provides us with the wages and benefits that all workers deserve.

.:clap:

Just give up kranky GMan will never get it. He thinks everyone should work for peanuts and 100hours a week for a 40 hour pay.

It ain't just union companys doing it. There are alot of non-union companys do the same damn thing. So who is to blame there??? Let me guess the union somehow?

When I eventually decide to sell this truck and get out of the O/O game, I'm looking to get a local union driving job. They say they will work me right up to my legally available hours, and will pay me for every hour I work. I will also have medical, dental, 401K, and disability. I'll earn a steady income, and won't waste thousands of free hours in a truck stop every year.

If that makes me unproductive, sign me up.